Overview

One of America’s fundamental ideals is that hard work and determination will open the doors to opportunity. However, for too long and for too many people, access to opportunity is still not within reach. Americans all want the same basic things for their families: a safe, affordable place to call home, a quality education for our kids, and access to transportation, jobs, retail, and services. Despite genuine progress and a landscape of communities transformed in the more than 40 years since the Fair Housing Act was enacted, the ZIP code in which a child grows up, all too

One of America’s fundamental ideals is that hard work and determination will open the doors to opportunity. However, for too long and for too many people, access to opportunity is still not within reach. Americans all want the same basic things for their families: a safe, affordable place to call home, a quality education for our kids, and access to transportation, jobs, retail, and services. Despite genuine progress and a landscape of communities transformed in the more than 40 years since the Fair Housing Act was enacted, the ZIP code in which a child grows up, all too often, remains a strong predictor of that child’s success. To this end, HUD seeks to significantly increase the number of housing providers, lenders, members of the real estate community, and others that fully comply with the Fair Housing Act and other applicable fair housing and civil rights laws and do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by those laws and regulations. While housing discrimination still takes on blatant forms in some instances, it has become more subtle through the years, resulting in under¬reporting and complicating effective enforcement.

In addition to enforcement, HUD works proactively to make access to important neighborhood assets measurably fairer in neighborhoods where HUD invests, and to ensure that policies and practices are in place to provide equal access to persons with disabilities.

Progress Update

HUD is designating the Fair Housing objective as making noteworthy progress. On July 16, 2015, HUD published the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which clarifies the Fair Housing Act’s requirement that Federal housing and urban development programs be implemented in a way that affirmatively furthers the purposes of the Act. The new AFFH regulation aims to fulfill the requirements and the promise of the Fair Housing Act. It marks an important step toward ensuring that everybody is given an equal opportunity to access safe and affordable housing near quality schools, transportation, and jobs. This new rule will provide communities and local decision-makers with the information, tools, and clear guidance they need to comply with their statutory duty to affirmatively further fair housing. HUD will be a supporter as grantees work to meet their own fair housing goals and realize the promise of this bedrock civil rights legislation.

As part of HUD’s effort to discourage discrimination through strong enforcement, on May 26, 2015, HUD announced an agreement with Associated Bank, N.A. to resolve a disparate treatment redlining case. At approximately $200 million, it is the largest settlement of this kind HUD has ever reached. It is also one of the largest redlining complaints brought by the federal government against a mortgage lender.

One of America’s fundamental ideals is that hard work and determination will open the doors to opportunity. However, for too long and for too many people, access to opportunity is still not within reach. Americans all want the same basic things for their families: a safe, affordable place to call home, a quality education for our kids, and access to transportation, jobs, retail, and services. Despite genuine progress and a landscape of communities transformed in the more than 40 years since the Fair Housing Act was enacted, the ZIP code in which a child grows up, all too often, remains a strong predictor of that child’s success. To this end, HUD seeks to significantly increase the number of housing providers, lenders, members of the real estate community, and others that fully comply with the Fair Housing Act and other applicable fair housing and civil rights laws and do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by those laws and regulations. While housing discrimination still takes on blatant forms in some instances, it has become more subtle through the years, resulting in under¬reporting and complicating effective enforcement.

In addition to enforcement, HUD works proactively to make access to important neighborhood assets measurably fairer in neighborhoods where HUD invests, and to ensure that policies and practices are in place to provide equal access to persons with disabilities.

Increase the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs.

Description:

HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. With approximately 5.5 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.

Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units.

In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.

The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home.

The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease.

HUD is committed to increasing the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs. Since fiscal year 2010, HUD has completed over 510,000 green or healthy units. Between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2017, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling an additional 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.

Description:

HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] With approximately 5.6 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.

Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units.

In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of the President’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.

The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home.

The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease.

Between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.

Description:

HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.

Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units.

From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.

The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease.

Support the recovery of communities from disasters by promoting community resilience, developing state and local capacity, and ensuring a coordinated federal response that reduces risk and produces a more resilient built environment.

Description:

Helping to increase communities’ resilience is integral to national disaster preparedness and the mission of HUD. This effort is consistent with the goals and objectives of Presidential Policy Directive / PPD-8 (National Preparedness) and Executive Order 13653 (Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change). Over the next five years, HUD will continue to support and expand programs and initiatives designed to increase and enhance pre-planning, research, infrastructure investment, partnerships, and cross-cutting coordination related to disaster response, recovery, and resilience. This work will involve the combined efforts of HUD’s program offices and federal, state, local, and private sector partners and will incorporate HUD’s civil rights, energy, environment, and diversity goals and responsibilities.

Agency Priority Goals

Between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.

Description:

HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.

Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units.

From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.

The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease.